User blog comment:Bluestripe the Wild/Rise of the Mercenaries/@comment-3135907-20110801202619

Cloke looks around the cave. "Hmm, nobeast here. Come, Grezzer." Cloke turns and swiftly races into the forest, with Grezzer trotting after him. "Yare, yare! What was that? There is somebeast near. Hearken." A rat trudges through the forest dejectedly. "They left me! All gone! The ship- gone! Me own crewbeasts- all gone, an' left me on this lonely isle widout so much as a matey or two! Nobeast here but the trees, an' they ain't beasts!" The smallish rat kicks a tree. Several birds flap from their perches in the willow. The rat leans against the tree. He frowns at something. Lying in the dust is a scraggly fox. "So...Cap'n...they left yew too, eh. Heeheehee! Now I got a companyun. 'Ow long's it been since I seen the ship pull away, Cap'n, and saw yew laffin' at me from the helm, yet now yer sittin' in the dust, no more a Cap'n than me ownself an' this 'ere tree! Hahaha, where's yer great long galley now, an' where's yer rottin ole mates, Gurky and Mitesrag? Nowhere. I don' see 'em, at least. Now y' jus' 'ave me, eh eh. Jus' yer ole matey- and this tree!" The rat continues his conversation with the unconscious fox, gesturing at the tree as though it could be in on the whole thing as well. At this time Cloke decides to make his presence known. He step casually from the bushes and taps the rat on the shoulder. It whirls. "Who're yew? Yew ain't in on this talk. Wait a seckind- it's Gurky! I knows it! Well 'ey an' 'earty, mate. Wot brings yer 'ere? I thought yew'n Mitesrag'd taken over the old Lagswake, but I s'pose Cuttfang musta taken it, eh. I knowed it would 'app'n. 'Ey Mitesrag, join yer mates in talkin'. Come on out, yew old stoat..." Grezzer looks around but realizes the rat is pointing at him. He is just about to say "I'm a weasel" when Cloke gives him a quick nod and he stops midsentence. The rat chuckles. "Why, I never knowed Mitey an' Gurky'd show up, an' the Cap'n too..." The rat shakes his head as if lost deep in thought.